Drive thru window, kiosk installed at Boone Subway

Whitney Sager - Editor

Monday

Oct 3, 2016 at 4:44 PM

Ordering a sub sandwich just became a bit easier.

Monday, the Subway at 422 Story St. in Boone opened its drive thru kiosk that lets customers order sub sandwiches, or any other item off the menu, from the convenience of their car. The kiosk is the first of its kind at a Subway restaurant in central Iowa and is the third to open in the state. The other two kiosks are located at Subways in Bettendorf and Sioux City.

"We've always had great success at this location and we wanted to give customers something exciting and new," Gayla Elwick, Subway director of operations, said of the decision to install the kiosk at the Boone location.

The touch screen kiosk, located to the northeast of the building, walks customers through the ordering process, with a computerized voice asking them the same questions employees would inside the restaurant.

"It really is self-explanatory," said Katie Vanderen, an employee at the Boone Subway store. "We've had customers saying 'wow' or 'this was really easy.'"

Monday afternoon, Vanderen said they'd already had a steady stream of customers use the kiosk, especially during the lunch hour. A majority of the time, the sandwich was ready by the time the customer finished ordering and drove up to the pick-up window.

"It makes it easier for people to get in and out," Elwick said of the ordering process.

After ordering, customers have the option to enter their phone number. By doing so, the sandwich they ordered will be saved in the system. The next time they go to any Subway restaurant that has a kiosk, they will be able to save steps in the ordering process by entering their phone number and pulling up their favorite sub sandwich.

Elwick said the kiosks started at Subway locations along the east coast, and have made their way to Midwest locations. Within the eight Subway restaurants Elwick oversees, there are already plans to install kiosks at two other locations.